Downing Musgrove oral history interview, October 2, 1988

Item — othertype: Oral History

Identifier: MusgroveD_19881002_P1988-20

Staff Only

Downing Musgrove oral history interview

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Scope and Contents

Interviewed by Jane Herndon. Among topics discussed: Firing of Lint Miller by Rivers; Lint Miller family; pardon scandals; Hiram Evans's Ku Klux Klan activities; Evans and the highway department; solicitor general John A. Boykin; lottery; Pat Avery; John Spivey; E. D. and Lucille Rivers's twenty‑fifth wedding anniversary; 1946 governor's race; campaign fund raising; education; rural electric service; Senator Walter George; Fred Scott; Fred Wilson; 1936 governor's race; kudzu; pipeline fight; Georgia Power influence; influential House speakers; George Smith; school closing issue; Sibley Commission; Grace Hamilton; legislators that Musgrove remembers with fondness; liquor sale issue; differences between E. D. Rivers and M. E. Thompson and the Talmadges; the transportation board; Jim Gillis fight with Jimmy Carter; Tom Moreland; pardon scandal; Musgrove executor of Rivers's estate; family's interest in politics; life after politics; politics in rural counties; Klan members; Ellis Arnall; the Depression; John Greer; Ellis Arnall differences with E. D. Rivers; Young Harris people; Roy Harris; race issue in 1946 campaign; Cocking affair; influential lobbies; bonding program; Milledgeville; Hospital Authority; prisons; education; Tom Perdue; Highway Department; Eugene Talmadge's campaign style; President Roosevelt at Warm Springs.

Dates

Creation: October 2, 1988

Creator

Musgrove, Downing, 1913- (Interviewee, Person)

Restrictions on Access

Oral history available for research.

Biographical Note

Downing Musgrove (d. 1995) served as executive secretary to Gov. E.D. Rivers from 1937 to 1940, and held other government positions including comptroller general and revenue commissioner. He also served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1951 to 1960, and was on the highway board from 1970 to 1975.